Has there really been a lot of outrage in this thread? To me it reads mostly as confusion.

As I said in my post, I think an argument can be made that it didn't warrant a suspension. But for Shanny to say it's due to lack of intent doesn't make a lot of sense and is a little surprising based on the standard he was using early in the season.

Goalies are not fair game. It's like if Lucic had lined up a player without the puck, didn't go out of his way to avoid contact, and even followed through on the hit like he did with Miller. He may not have intended to injure that player, but when you intentionally hit a guy who's not legally hittable, it's a grey area at best because the intent is pretty clearly to take a shot at someone you shouldn't.

If he wanted to keep in line with how he has been giving out punishment, honestly I think Shanny should've given a fine to Lucic for intentionally running a goalie and concussing Miller.

Outrage yes, statements like wanting the Red Wings to exact retribution for an incident involving other teams, wondering rhetorically why people like Savard get cheap-shotted, calling Lucic trash, I see plenty of outrage. Surprising you don't.

Your analogy though has nothing to do with what occurred.

Goalies are not fair game, the technicality of this wasn't really debated or inferred otherwise.

The charging nature of the penalty was the fact that this was obviously not incidental contact -- the refs had to call that. If it was not a penalty to finish the check on a goalie playing the puck far away from his crease as any other skater playing the puck would be vulnerable to this would have been a non-issue.

It's not anywhere close to an intent to injure call on the ice. It was not a double minor, it was not a major, there was no misconduct, no match penalty, nothing. It isn't just Shanahan that saw it that way. Lucic simply tried to play the puck and when he was too close he decided to just brace himself and deliver a hit.

There's no argument that it's a penalty (if we're arguing by the NHL's rules, my opinion obviously is another issue) but you're not making any sense trying to justify a suspension.

I can see where the charging call was made, even though I don't like it, but it was a shoulder hit, not a head shot, not a blind side hit, not any of these nitpicky ticky tack penalty du jour the NHL is confusingly trying to enforce. Lucic simply tried for the puck and braced himself to deliver a check to Miller. I doubt it was accidental, which is why it was a penalty, but it's not so bad nor such an intent to injure that it warrants a suspension just because Miller's helmet flew off and now it turns out he has a concussion. I don't think there's any sense to amplifying a punishment just because of outrage.

Miller is one of my favourite goalies here but f*** it, I like what Lucic did. Goalies get enough protection in the crease and around it. They don't deserve to go for a skate that far up the ice and expect to be protected as they aren't protecting the net at that point (otherwise the argument is the goalie being anywhere on the ice is considered protecting the net), they're playing the puck as any other skater. Lucic doing that, while infuriating him, lets him know that next time the puck is that far up the ice, Miller is taking a risk by going for a skate so far up the ice, and he just might think twice. I don't think goalie interference applies to that, even less do I think it's charging the goaltender. Lucic is finishing a hit on a player skating far away from his net to play the puck and not playing goal.

Ryan Murphy made the problem for himself by not having his head up and by making his own body lower, exposing his upper body to contact. When contact was made his head was level with the top of the boards. At 1:32 is a good angle of where the impact happened, and if you look, his legs are already bent which is why they wind up flying into the air.

To the post above -- "There is no need to come around that corner with that much speed" -- this is bulls***. Khunackl, to get that much speed, had to have in mind pursuing the puck with speed, and Murphy getting the puck at the last second changed his course only slightly.

Announcers in this clip were annoying as f*** calling it a headshot. I really want to see midgets (aka dwarfs, little people) play in the NHL, OHL, AHL, etc., just to show how stupid this headshot bulls*** is. If a player makes himself prone to being hit in the head then that's his fault. I love how every big hit that happens to injure a guy, if not a perfect shoulder to shoulder hit, winds up being a penalty, head shot, suspension, blind side hit, you name the ridiculous names for it.

I don't get this. It a whole issue with many factors but the bottom line is, they've got steroids far from baseball now and it incredibly obvious in player performance across the board. Id give baseball a chance again if I were you.

The bridges were already burned. Let's, for fun, say I was suddenly a fan of the MLB again, and oh right, my favourite player, Mark McGwire.. far from baseball now? This presumes I'm an idiot. The only reason the MLB is far less laden with performance enhancing drugs is because they had their pants pulled down, and I still see similar names not only playing in that league, but coaching in it, so their new concessions don't impress me at all. The MLB and their superstars were given a second chance to come clean during the media and Congressional circus, and they decided to plead the fifth. Rather than take the high road they were complicit -- there won't be another chance for the MLB as far as I'm concerned.

If this turns out to be an NHL problem of similar proportions all it takes is following in MLB footsteps to lose my trust and thus interest, but given the NHL's recent safety hysteria and the obvious double standards they would employ (if true) if attempting to conceal it, they are on an even shorter leash, again, as far as I'm concerned. If this is a cloud that hangs over the NHL they should simply come out with what they know.

While I was an ignorant fan, I can't turn a blind eye to this sort of nonsense anymore after having my pants pulled down, being a fan of the MLB and heavily against this sort of element in the league, and being a naive fan who thought this was all conspiracy talk only to find out it was true. Never again. I don't like cheaters, and I have no respect for the leagues and organizations which employ and collude with them to conceal it. I really hope this isn't the case for the NHL.

The NHLPA listened, but initially refused to take any action, "for obvious political reasons."

"They wanted to keep drug testing as a card in their negotiations with the league," he wrote. "Plus, since their main goal was to protect the players, to take action against drugs would have harmed some of those players."

Last year, a Virginia chiropractor who treated members of the Washington Capitals pleaded guilty to misdemeanour steroids charges.

Douglas Nagel, who had offices in the same Arlington, Va., mall complex as the Capitals' practice facility, was placed on three years of probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Nagel denied that he ever distributed steroids and said the drugs he ordered from a Florida supplier were for personal use.

The supplier, Andrew Thomas, had told investigators that Nagel had boasted the steroids were for professional athletes.

When Nagel was arrested in March 2010, the NHL and the Capitals said the league had done a thorough investigation and that there was nothing linking the Nagel case to steroid use by any members of the team.

But Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at the time that the NHL was not co-operative in his investigation of the case.

The start of this story already looks like the MLB.

Now, if only he would actually name names. If the NHL and NHLPA and the player(s) object, they can sue Laraque and we can see if this is just an attention stunt, or if this is a problem that needs to be dragged out much like the colluding MLB and MLBPA (<- probably the only time they were friends), more will be revealed in court. Either way, not to name players/teams does no good for the integrity of his case.

I won't concern myself with it until he has the balls to come out with names -- I don't do non-specific, cryptic nonsense.

Same deal with the MLB, and once it the names were out, seeing the evidence, seeing player reactions, I never watched it again. I have no issue canning the NHL too due to lack of integrity but until Laraque can come out with names it's a $$$ campaign that stands to benefit him the more attention he gets without divulging.

But good lord, Leafs in 1st, Florida 5th, Boston dead last, and out west Edmonton 1st, Minnesota 4th, Vancouver 10th, San Jose 11th, Red Wings 13th. (Edit: As I was typing this the standings were updated, San Jose went up to 5th and Vancouver dropped to 10th)

This is thread is pure IDIOCY on a Silver F#%*ING Platter. There is still so much of this season to go, granted I'm on the of the people who said I didn't expect much from this year's team but I can't see this team not making the playoffs. It's going to be and up-hill struggle but if any team can do this it's the Wings. I'm quite confident in my team MAKING the Playoffs. The Wings just have to find the right combo to get things started. It's so funny to me to see how many people are Bandwagon fans and how they are all over a team when they are successful but the minute they show any weakness at all they are off to another Wagon to jump on. What a load of BS. Wings will be fine they are just going through a rough patch, they WILL get it turned around. Let's Go Detroit Red Wings!!

I'm already on the Avs bandwagon, have burned down my Steve Yzerman shrine, and have erected a Peter Forsberg one. It was either him or Claude Lemieux.